By Renzo Gonzalez
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The Internet can be terribly insensitive in its ignorance. Wednesday, Oct. 5, marked the end of an era with the passing of Steve Jobs, Apple co-founder and entrepreneur extraordinaire, who succumbed to a rare form of pancreatic cancer. Of course, the Web was soon engulfed in a chaotic flurry of heartfelt condolences and respectful obituaries from big company names honoring the inventor, but much of the general public seemed to have a different reaction. One Facebook-er even reflected on the event with a blunt “I was more of a PC guy anyway.” But in what sick, twisted world is Jobs merely the face and puppeteer behind Apple, just the man responsible for iPhones and cool computers as so many seem to see him as? Definitely not this one.
Jobs’ rise from college dropout to multi-billionaire is practically the epitome of the “rags-to-riches” scenario, which in itself is a respectable feat. But the fuel for his success wasn’t pure luck; Jobs had a certain vision about what he wanted for the future. He did not just invent; he innovated, and competitors started taking bits and pieces of his creations for their own. Jobs himself even acknowledged Apple’s originality, albeit a little conceitedly (“(Microsoft has) no taste.”), from things like fonts to MP3 players.
Year after year Apple pumped out invention after invention: the Macintosh, the iPod, the iPhone, the MacBook Air, all of them heading straight into consumers’ households while Jobs continued to churn out more product ideas. Of course, Apple would be the first thing to come into mind at Jobs’ name, but not many realize how much of an effect he really had on the electronic entertainment industry as a whole.
For one, Jobs also had an influence outside of the gadget world, though in a more subtle way. After being fired from Apple in 1985 (ironic, isn’t it?), Jobs turned to moviemaking, funding and acquiring a little animation company by the name of Pixar. His $5 million investment helped the Lucasfilm offshoot on its own feet, while Jobs continued to nurture the company from afar to creative and financial success. Pixar soon became a revolutionary company in of itself, producing heartfelt, technologically innovative films that have become icons in the public eye. And to think that Jobs managed to act as one of the first gardeners for the blooming company.
Another thing about Jobs’ products that many might not appreciate now was how advanced they were at release. They weren’t lying when they said the iPhone was five years ahead of its 1-inch screen, plastic-keyboard cell phone competitors. These advances revolutionized the electronic industries, with all other companies pushing themselves into overdrive to match Apple’s new standards. Touch phones are now as commonplace as dirt, when they were rare gems a few years back. Apple slang has even entered the common dictionary of modern society (and yes, “there’s an app for that”), all thanks to the genius of Steve Jobs.
And yet, society is so quick to refute such genius, simply because they never understand the full magnitude of Jobs’ accomplishments. People hardly ever saw Jobs away from his beloved creations, branding him as being just the “Apple Guy,” the alternate Bill Gates. And that’s how most saw him as. After his death, much of the public, with the exception of those blindly hopping into the “Steve-Jobs-is-a-revolutionary-comparable-to-Edison” bandwagon, simply felt that the world has lost a mere spokesperson, a familiar face they’d seen once or twice on television talking about an iPhone or some other doohickey. Not many saw the big picture behind the glass screens, saw the true mind of a man who built the future from scratch.
Jobs’ famous products continue to inspire, impress, and entertain, and it’s a shame that such a creative mind can no longer share his ideas with the world. So to anybody dimwitted enough to brush Jobs and his accomplishments off simply because they prefer PCs, they might as well say they prefer carrying radios around everywhere and having Internet restricted to their computers. And what kind of world would that be?
